Missouri: Final Paycheck Deadlines
The short answer
Missouri is a genuine split state: a discharged or laid-off employee must be paid in full on the day of discharge, backed by a self-executing penalty if a written request for payment isn't honored within seven days. A voluntary quit, by contrast, has no state deadline at all: confirmed directly by Missouri's own Department of Labor. There's no independent requirement to pay out unused vacation, and Missouri courts have specifically held that even contractually-owed vacation pay doesn't count as "wages" for purposes of the discharge penalty. Enforcement runs through the courts, not a state wage-collection agency.
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This is the general rule in Missouri. Ezel applies current Missouri law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | Missouri's discharge wage statute, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.110, sets the deadline and penalty for a discharge or layoff. Missouri has no counterpart statute addressing a voluntary quit |
|---|---|
| Deadline if fired or laid off | "Whenever any person, firm or corporation doing business in this state shall discharge, with or without cause, or refuse to further employ any servant or employee thereof, the unpaid wages of the servant or employee then earned at the contract rate, without abatement or deduction, shall be and become due and payable on the day of the discharge or refusal to longer employ": same-day payment (§ 290.110) |
| Deadline if the employee quits | No Missouri statute addresses this at all: confirmed directly by the state's own Department of Labor: "There are no requirements under Missouri law that address when wages are due when an employee quits a job." Practice generally expects payment by the next regular payday, but that's custom, not a legal deadline, and none of § 290.110's penalty machinery applies to a quit |
| Unused vacation/PTO payout required? | No statute requires payout of unused vacation, holiday, or severance pay; these are discretionary unless an employer's own policy or contract promises them. Even then, Missouri courts have held that vacation pay is NOT "wages" within the meaning of § 290.110 (Monterosso v. St. Louis Globe-Democrat Publishing Co., 368 S.W.2d 481, 489 (Mo. 1963); Doores v. Intercontinental Eng'g-Mfg. Corp., 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 3648), so the discharge statute's payment deadline and penalty don't reach a shorted, policy-promised vacation payout; recovering it takes an ordinary contract claim instead |
| How final pay must be delivered | A discharged employee may request in writing that the wages, or a valid check, be sent to any station or office where the employer keeps a regular agent; the money or check must then reach that location within seven days of the request (§ 290.110) |
| Penalty for a late or unpaid final check | If the wages (or a valid check) don't reach the requested station or office within seven days of a written request, the wages continue accruing at the same rate as a self-executing penalty from the date of discharge until paid, capped at 60 days (§ 290.110). This penalty exists only for a discharge: there is no equivalent for an unpaid check after a voluntary quit |
| How to enforce it | Missouri's Division of Labor Standards investigates wage complaints but has no legal authority to compel an employer to pay; the state directs employees to court instead: small claims court for amounts under $5,000, or a private civil action in circuit court above that. An employee under a definite-term employment contract who is discharged without cause can also join a wrongful-discharge damages claim with the wage-and-penalty action (§ 290.130) |
| Exceptions and special rules | § 290.110's deadline and penalty don't apply to an employee whose pay is based mainly on commission where the job involves collecting accounts or handling stock or merchandise and an audit is necessary or customary to determine what's owed. More fundamentally, because § 290.110 only covers a "discharge ... or refusal to further employ," its entire deadline-and-penalty scheme simply doesn't reach a voluntary quit |
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Requirements one by one
Governing law
Missouri's final-pay rule for a discharge lives in a single section, Mo.
Rev. Stat. § 290.110. There is no companion statute for a voluntary quit
anywhere in Chapter 290.
Deadline if fired or laid off
Unpaid wages "earned at the contract rate, without abatement or
deduction, shall be and become due and payable on the day of the
discharge or refusal to longer employ." That's same-day payment,
whether the discharge was for cause or not.
Deadline if the employee quits
There is no state law on this at all. Missouri's own Department of Labor
says so directly: no requirement addresses when a final paycheck is due
after a quit. The general expectation is the next regular payday, but
that's practice, not a legal deadline, and if it's missed, there's no
statutory penalty to invoke, only an ordinary lawsuit for the unpaid
wages themselves.
Unused vacation/PTO payout required?
Missouri doesn't require an employer to offer vacation, holiday, or
severance pay at all, these are discretionary unless a policy or
contract says otherwise. Even where an employer's own policy promises
vacation pay, Missouri courts have held it still isn't "wages" within the
meaning of § 290.110's discharge penalty, that penalty covers only the
basic rate of pay owed at regular intervals, not a one-time vacation
credit. An employee owed contractually-promised vacation pay recovers it
through an ordinary breach-of-contract claim, not the wage-penalty
statute.
How final pay must be delivered
A discharged employee can ask, in writing, to have the wages (or a valid
check) sent to any station or office where the employer keeps a regular
agent. Once that request is made, the money or check has to arrive there
within seven days.
Penalty for a late or unpaid final check
If the seven-day delivery window is missed, the employee's wages keep
accruing at the same rate they were earning, starting from the date of
discharge, until they're actually paid, capped at 60 days' worth. This
penalty is specific to a discharge; there's no equivalent for a late
paycheck after a voluntary quit.
How to enforce it
Missouri's Division of Labor Standards will investigate a wage complaint,
but it has no power to force an employer to pay. The real remedy is
court: small claims court for amounts under $5,000, or a private civil
action in circuit court for larger amounts. An employee working under a
definite-term contract who's discharged without cause can also add a
wrongful-discharge damages claim to the wage-and-penalty lawsuit.
Exceptions and special rules
The discharge deadline and penalty don't apply to an employee paid mainly
on commission whose job involves collecting accounts or handling stock or
merchandise, where an audit is necessary or customary to figure out the
net amount owed. More broadly, because the whole statute only talks about
a "discharge ... or refusal to further employ," none of it, deadline or
penalty, reaches an employee who quits.
What trips people up
People assume the same-day discharge rule and its penalty apply evenly to
any separation; they don't reach a voluntary quit at all in Missouri. The
vacation-pay ruling is the other trap: even a written company policy
promising vacation payout doesn't put that payout under the wage
statute's penalty umbrella, courts have drawn a firm line that "wages ...
earned at the contract rate" means regular pay, not a one-time vacation
credit. And because there's no state agency empowered to make an
employer pay, "filing a complaint" with the Division of Labor Standards
gets an investigation, not a payout, a lawsuit is the actual remedy.
Common questions
Do I get paid faster if I'm fired than if I quit in Missouri?
Yes, dramatically so. A discharge must be paid the same day, with a
penalty if a written payment request isn't honored within seven days. A
quit has no state deadline at all.
Is my employer required to pay out my unused vacation when I leave?
Only if a policy or contract promises it, and even then it isn't
protected by the discharge statute's penalty, you'd pursue it as a
contract claim.
What can I do if my employer doesn't pay me?
The state can't force payment on your behalf. For a discharge, you can
sue for the unpaid wages plus the accruing penalty; small claims court
handles amounts under $5,000.
Statutes and sources
- Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.110: discharge deadline, delivery request, and
penalty — see quote above. —
https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=290.110
(accessed 2026-07-06) - Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.130: wrongful-discharge damages joinable with a
wage claim — see quote above. —
https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=290.130
(accessed 2026-07-06) - Monterosso v. St. Louis Globe-Democrat Publishing Co., 368 S.W.2d 481
(Mo. 1963), and Doores v. Intercontinental Engineering-Manufacturing
Corp., 1984 Mo. App. LEXIS 3648: vacation pay is not "wages" under
§ 290.110 — quoted above. —
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/5236387/
(accessed 2026-07-06)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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